The ROP has said that there is no change in the visit visa rule for relatives of expatriates.
A few cases were reported by public relations officials (PROs) of local establishments where siblings of their expat employees were granted a one month visit visa instead of the usual three months.
A PRO of a company in Muscat applied for a visit visa for its employee’s brother and he was issued a visa for one month stay. The PRO said that the employee’s parents were issued a three months visit visa as per the norms. “No clarification or reason was given by the officer for issuing the one month stay visa,” said the PRO.
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Commenting on the issue, a senior ROP official said that there has been no change in the visit visa process for employee’s relatives. “It could happen sometimes that the officer might issue a visa for one month instead of three,” he said. This is in line with ROP’s visa rule which states that “visa shall be subject to approval and discretion of the concerned authority.”
According to the ROP rule, visit visa is issued to the relatives of an Omani at his request and under his sponsorship. It is also issued to the relatives of a foreigner who is a resident in Oman at the request of and on the responsibility of his sponsor.
According to ROP, the visit visa is valid for three months from the date of issue. It is valid for staying in the sultanate for three months from the date of entry and can be extended by one month.
Source: MuscatDaily